Some "feels good" wines

We went back home for 3 days and he was great to be in sunny Paris. After having lunch with a good friend, I realised how I missed the French bistrots where you can eat some simple but delicious food along nice wines without having to pay $80 for the bottle.

So to go along the kidneys, we choosed a 2008 Domaine Richaud Cairanne. Marcel Richaud is a famous name in the Cotes du Rhone appelation. A few times his wines have been refused by the INAO because of a lack of tipicity. Hum....lack of tipicity? I think they're were just too good and different from many crappy CdR so the INAO had to refuse them. Anyway, Marcel Richaud is a fantastic winemaker respecting the terroir and grapes. Manual harvest, indigenous yeast, no acididification or chaptalisation...you get the picture. This 2008, while young (obviously) was perfect along the kidneys and entrecote. Totally open and showing very well. Floral and mineral on the nose with garrigue and licorice. Mainly dark fruits and earthy notes. It's already balanced and will only improve with time. The 14.5% are well integrated. You want to taste where the wine comes from and with the 1st sip you know you are in Provence.

Along the turbo for dinner, a superb 2008 Francois Cotat, Les Monts Damnes was sacrificed. I say sacrificed because Francois' wines needs 10 years. But boy, it's too hard to wait that long! As predicted, this was really tight. Wet rocks and cassis leaf. Powerful on the palate. Not much fruit right now but I love the acidity and light mineral notes. As usual it is never a disappointment with Francois!This needs to go to sleep for a few years.

Different register the next day with a Jérôme Prévost La Closerie Les Beguines (LC07) and a 1999 Clos Rougeard.

Jérôme Prévost started doing his champagnes in Selosse's cellar because of a lack of...cellar! His 1st vintage is 1998 as he was previously selling his grapes.
He harvests at a high degree of ripeness in order to avoid chaptalization and fermentation takes place with indigenous yeasts in 450- to 600-liter oak barrels. While never a declared vintage champagne, he uses grapes from a single year and the code on the bottle (LCxx) indicates the millesime. The 2007 is a great extra brut. 100% pinot meunier from old vines, there's not really one fruit coming out but instead a complex array of aromas. Impeccable balance, it made me think of a white burgundy with a touch of cognac oak like.You can definitely see the Selosse influence here even though this champagne is not as vinous. Took a little time to open up. Might be a good idea to decant it for 20-30mn.

The Clos Rougeard was no surprise: it was just awesome. A little decanting was in order and this Clos Rougeard was in a soft spot. Intoxicating and complex nose with a touch of cedar, lots of tobacco, a touch of bell pepper. All that is backed up by a good and fresh fruit. Round, it shows more earthy notes on the palate with a long finish. The balance is where it should be with a nice acidity. It somehow reminded me a little bit of a Bordeaux with more acidity and earthy notes. Simply delicious and à point.

How can you not feel good after wines like this?!

In the streets of New York

I love NY. I love the energy, the streets, the crowd, the rude people, the yellow cabs. I could go on and on. The last few times we went there I could not stop thinking about Alicia Keys whispering in my ears (somehow I will ignore Jay-Z on that one): these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you....Let's hear it for New York.


Check it out. Totally worth it. Watch it till the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDYpqdHO0LI


What does it have to do with wine? I'm not sure Alicia Keys or Jay-Z drink wine, probably a few bottles of Cristal and Dom P but there's nothing you can't do in NY. And one thing you can certainly do is drinking a great bottle of 2004 Clos Rougeard, Les Poyeux. After an interesting cab ride to Brooklyn, we finally managed to get to Vinegar Hill House. In the middle of, well, pretty much nothing, this is a welcoming place with its rustic decor and food. Food was great and this Poyeux was a perfect match with our food. The Foucault brothers make 3 different reds: a generic (but complex) Saumur, the Poyeux and the famous Le Bourg.



This Poyeux needed quite some time to open up as it was really simple and monolithic for about an hour. Then what you expect from Clos Rougeard started to emerge: silky texture, wonderful fruit but more important that refreshing minerality. Nice violets notes as well along a hint of green as well. Overall a nice and enjoyable Poyeux. Light on its feet, probably for the mid term.
It gives you a total sense of place. New York? No, Saumur...

Scotch Garglers Blind tasting: Reds from Loire

Once again, we all gathered for another blind tasting session. This time: Reds from the Loire ! We were all excited but somehow the wines were a let down...Blame it on a root day!

The wines were served by appelation, blind.








CHINON

2002 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Marie

• 55-70 year old vines
• Clay and gravel terrases and silico-clay coteaux
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• Elevage in piece (1/3 new)
• 4 to 6 months in tanks then

Almost opaque, dark cherry core and bright purple rim. Smoky, cold ashtray nose, hint of bell pepper. You can also sense the elevage but this mellow down with air. Med body, round with supple tannins that still needs a few more years, good structure, some nice cherry notes along some ripe raspberry.
Interesting finish on violets. This wine needs a few more years to gain in complexity and it certainly has a good enough structure and acidity to do it.

2005 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Danae

• 10-20 year old vines
• Calcareous clay (Millarge and Tuffeau)
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• 12 months in 500l barrels, 1/3 new
• Then 5 to 6 months in tanks

Overoaked, heavy. Are we really in Chinon?!

2005 Domaine Les Chesnaies (Beatrice & Pascal Lambert) Cuvée Marie

• 55-70 year old vines
• Clay and gravel terrases and silico-clay coteaux
• 30 to 40 days maceration
• Elevage in piece (1/3 new)
• 4 to 6 months in tanks then

Just as the 2002, very dark cherry core. Eggplant, floral and cold tobacco, slightly jammy fruits in the background.
Med to full body, rather low acidity, some oak on the palate with again those tobacco, inky notes, blackberry.
A little modern.

2005 Domaine de la Noblaie "Les Chiens-Chien"
• 40- to 80-year-old vines
• Limestone and clay above
• Aged 12 months in 2 and 3 year old barrels
• For export only

Bright fruit on the nose, a little barnyard on the nose with a hint of chocolate. Dark ruby, grippy tannins, med body, a little modern and polished, I found this wine a little heavy on the palate and boring.
Disappointing.

2002 Olga Raffault Les Picasses

• Limestone
• 25 to 30 days maceration
• Elevage in 4000l to 5000l fut

Beautiful and elegant nose. Cassis leaf, violets with some red fruits. Balanced, med body with high acidity, nice violet on the palate. The finish is slightly green.
Austere but a pleasure to drink.

1996 Pierre Jacques Druet, Clos de Danzay

• Mix of young and old vines (100 year old)
• 18 to 24 months in barrels
• côteau clay-silico-limestone

Corked!

2006 Bernard Baudry, Les Granges

• Gravel and sand
• Vines planted in 1985-88
• 7 months in tanks

Barnyard on the nose, a touch of licorice (even though there's no oak), leather. Darker fruits on the palate than on the nose.
Not as good as the previous bottle.



BOURGUEIL

2007 Domaine de la Chanteleuserie Bourgueil Cuvée Alouettes

• stainless steel,
• Silico-clay soil

Candied juicy red fruits on the nose, almost beaujolais like. A little enjoyable funk.
Grenadine, cranberry, balanced, a little more weight on the palate than the nose would suggest. Easy to drink but not very complex.
Nice little wine from sandy-clay soil.

2006 Domaine de la Butte, Le Haut de la Butte

• Limestone with silex
• 10 year old vines
• 25 hl/ha
• No cultures yeast, no chaptalisation
• Elevage in 6000l wooden cuve for 1/3 then the rest in 2 and 3 year old barrels.

Nice complex nose with a slightly smoky gravelly nose and minerality, fraise des bois and red berries (raspberry and cranberry) along some cassis. A little barnyardy at first, med body, med+ acidity, balanced with smooth tannins.
Easy and immensely pleasurable to drink.



SAUMUR CHAMPIGNY


2003 Clos Rougeard, Les Poyeux

• biodynamic
• 45 year old vines
• Mostly sandy soil
• Raised in 1 year old barrels

Very disappointing showing. The first few sips were really good with a very elegant and complex nose and with an amazing silky texture. But after 10mn, oak (??) started to be overwhelming (only one year old barrels are used, no new) and the wine didn't show any depth, or at least what you could expect from Clos Rougeard.
Go figure what happened here.


PIRATE WINE


2003 Reverie cabernet Franc, Diamond Mountain

This was the pirate in our Loire tasting and boy, everybody knew immediately this was not from the Loire.
Spices, cranberry and raisins, some oak. Full body, almost creamy in texture, low acidity, plummy with blackberry, coffee and vanilla.
I would summarize this wine in one word: BORING.
Finished in the sink. Yuk !





Overall a fun tasting with a lot of wines and surprises. My 1st experience with Domaine Les Chesnaies and I'm not sure what to think. Maybe a touch overdone for my taste. I need to revisit.

A poor showing for my Clos Rougeard..Oh well it happens ! That's the beauty of wine.


It was interesting to see how the winemaker touch is very important here. Even though some common characteristics were showing for each appelation, l'empreinte du vigneron was very obvious.